Revenge Never Rests
by randominuyasha
Summary: Slert has escaped Seven with a new companion, but her adventure isn't nearly over. Now that she knows something of her mother's past her passion to kill the Tallest is strong as ever, and she won't stop until she follows through with her threat.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Slert looked around, a confused look on her face. Katz had just been right beside her, but now she was suddenly gone. Slert didn't blame her, though; now that they'd successfully escaped, the authorities would be on full alert.

Now she found herself in the middle of a dilemma. Here she was standing out in the open, an easy target for those wanting to recapture her, and she had no way of getting off the planet.

More and more of the Tallests' elites were arriving every few minutes to subdue the escapees and soon getting off the planet would be near impossible.

Nervously she scanned the skies for any spare aircrafts, thinking that she could use Streerch to forcefully commandeer them. She would do anything to avoid going back to a cell in that prison, even if it meant getting herself killed in the process of trying to get away.

She tuned to her little robot and commanded, "Streerch, go find us a ship so we can get out of here! Do whatever it takes to get u off that planet… or you'll be back in that junk closet and I'll be in a cell. If need be… kill all in your path!"

"Yes, my Master!" Streerch said loudly, turning away from Slert. Without any warning the robot shot up into the sky to survey the scene. For a few moments it scanned the area, searching for any ship they could use.

Quickly growing impatient Slert called up to her minion, "Streerch, do you see anything yet? We don't have time to goof around; the elites could get to this part of the planet at any moment!"

Soon after Streerch landed, its search complete. It reported obediently, "There appear to be a few vessels left on the planet's surface. The closest one is just a little way away. Its pilot seems to be not too far away from it, looking for someone."

Slert looked in the direction her robot was pointing and almost instantly came to a decision. If she wanted to get off this horrible planet she'd have to steal someone's ship.

"Well, what're we waiting for? We need to get out of here!" Slert said, as she began to make her way toward the waiting spaceship.

Streerch followed closely, though quickly took the lead. Slert had no idea where she was going and she would most definitely need its help to find her way.

The two of them walked through the small crowds that scattered the area for a good few minutes, still not finding the ship. It was a long way away and it would take them a little longer than they would have liked to get there.

They stopped briefly to glance at another fight that was breaking out and were about to continue when something else caught their attention.

They heard a mass of screaming was coming from just behind them, and they couldn't' help but take a peek. Just as they turned around they saw the crowds scattering wildly. This sudden and random behaviour confused Slert, but she soon enough realized why they were doing this.

A loud whistling noise soon filled the air, and Slert instinctively looked up. There in the sky was a voot cruiser hurtling crazily toward the planet. It didn't appear to be slowing down in the slightest as it neared the planet's rocky surface.

Before she knew it the thing crashed into the planet, killing two of the few who didn't know what was going on and hadn't moved. Out from the wreck tumbled and irken and its SIR, crazed looks on their faces.

Slert happened to be the first one this irked saw, and very soon he was running toward her. He yelled at the top of his lungs as he reached her, "I've made it! NOW! WHERE IS MY KATZ?"

"I don't know, she probably already left. Like I'm about to do… I have to get off this planet. Your ship, is it still working?" Slert asked anxiously, though one look at the craft told her that it would probably never fly again.

Not waiting for an answer she began to walk away. She had to get going, and couldn't afford to wait for this guy.

Neither he nor his SIR were willing to leave her alone, though. As the robot latched onto her leg he followed her, walking in a very odd manner. Questions poured continuously from his mouth, and Slert was able to ignore him for a short time. Her patience soon grew thin, however.

"Damn it, will you just shut up? I'm sure Katz is OK, I don't know where she is, and yes this is 'that prison planet'! If you're going to follow me shut up… and tell your robot to GET OFF OF ME! And tell me your name; I hate traveling with people who's names I don't know," she exploded, "Or if you'd rather I kill you right now, that could also be arranged."

"I am ZIM! You will OBEY me and lead me to my Katz!" the red-eyed irken introduced loudly, apparently taking great pride in himself.

"Yeah… no. I have my own things to do right now," Slert said, growing very annoyed. This guy thought he was the king of the universe or something, and it was really getting on her nerves.

"OBEY ME, FOR I AM THE GREAT ZIM!" he screeched madly.

"Look, when you're with me, I'm the one who's in charge," Slert hissed, whipping out the dagger she'd gotten from the irken who'd kidnapped her, "I say where we go, I say what we do. So unless you want to die, shut the hell up."

Zim shut up upon seeing the deadly knife, sinking back just a bit. He followed nearly silently from then on, reducing his talking to the occasional random question.

Soon they found themselves at their destination. Slert breathed a sigh of relief; the aircraft as well as its pilot were still there. One thing did strike her as odd, though; the pilot of the spacecraft was vortian.

"You! We need you to fly us out of here!" Slert said as they approached her, an urgent tone to her voice.

Much to her surprise the pilot kindly obliged, "Sure, I suppose I can do that. It seems the one I was sent here to retrieve aren't coming, so… hop aboard."

Slert didn't need to be told twice. Almost before the vortian had finished speaking she and her robot were sitting in the passenger seat beside that of the pilot. Zim and GIR quickly piled in after then, and after then the pilot climbed in.

Just as they were about to lift off they heard something crash into the exterior of the ship. From outside they heard someone yell, "Please! Please, take me with you! I can't go back to a cell, I just can't! PLEASE!"

"We have no more room, the ship's full. Otherwise I would gladly bring you along," the pilot said through a little intercom-type device.

"Please, just get me off this god forsaken planet! I don't care if I have to ride in the cargo chamber or be one of your slaves! I'll do anything…" the voice called back in desperation.

The pilot looked to Slert for what to do. She was honestly OK with another passenger coming along for the ride, but only if she didn't have to look after them.

The decision for Slert was an easy one to make. This ZIM character who'd attached himself to her would be of no use to her in future plans. This new arrival, however, sounded a bit more promising.

"D'you mind if we get this other one back to his planet? I don't think he'll be of much help to us," Slert asked the vortian pilot in a whisper. She didn't want Zim to overhear.

"Yeah, that could be arranged. I have orders to get back to my planet, but I don't think they'll mind if I take a detour," she replied happily, "Besides, I should practice my flying as much as I can."

"Great, then let this guy on. He sounds like a promising one," Slert said, nodding thoughtfully.

The pilot gave a thumbs-up and opened the hatch. Immediately the irken clambered inside, finding himself a space at the very back of the ship.

"Thank you all so much! I didn't think I was ever going to hitch a ride. If there's anything I can do to repay you, anything at all, you just ask!" he said thankfully, looking to everyone in the ship.

He was a lean irken, though he did have some muscle on him. His green eyes twinkled with happiness and he smiled widely, showing his dull but sparkly teeth. He didn't look like much of a fighter and didn't seem like he should even be at Seven in the first place, but Slert was sure she could find something to do with him.

"Everyone ready to head off?" the pilot asked, as she readied the ship for takeoff.

They all nodded and told her they were. The armada was fast getting their reinforcements and the window of opportunity through which they could escape was steadily closing.

Nobody knew anyone else in the spacecraft but at the moment they didn't care. They'd get to the introductions later, when they were out of immediate danger.

************

"Zim, where do you live?" Slert asked, for they needed to know where to drop him off.

They were finally out of harm's way for the time being, and could now go about doing the things that needed to be tended to.

"I live on the PITIFUL planet of Earth. Soon those FILTHY humans will bow to me, when I conquer the planet," he said loudly, shaking his fist in the air violently and nearly foaming at the mouth.

"Earth, eh? Shouldn't take too long to get there…" Eva, the vortian pilot, muttered, as she switched on a communications device.

From the roof dropped a screen on which a peculiar looking being appeared. It looked to be half irken and half human. Its appearance seemed to catch Zim's attention more than anything.

"The Dib-Stink! What's he doing on the screen… and why does he have ANTENNAE? What are you planning, Dib-Monkey?" Zim yelled accusingly, as he pointed a shaking finger at the screen.

"Dib? Oh yeah, that's that human's name… no, I'm not this Dib. I just found his appearance interesting, so I snatched it… with a few modifications, of course," the one on the screen laughed, "I'm a meekrob, you see. But I don't like my natural appearance, so I change it every so often."

"YOU LIE!" Zim hollered, going completely ballistic in the back seat. His cries nearly deafened his fellow travelers.

The meekrob sighed, "Fine… fine. It doesn't look like you're going to shut up, so… I'm going to show you my true form. BUT just this ONCE."

He closed his eyes and concentrated hard on transforming. After a minute or two his form shimmered and suddenly started to glow. All of a sudden a very majestic-looking meekrob was on the screen in his brilliant true form, an annoyed look on his face.

"See? Meekrob. Can you shut up now so we can get to Eva's question?" he muttered, quickly transforming back. Zim didn't quite settle down, but they decided to ignore him and continue nonetheless.

"OK, now that that's over and done with, I do in fact have a question for you. We need to stop by a planet called Earth to drop the annoying one off before he drives us all insane, but we don't know where Earth is."

"Earth's coordinates…" he mumbled as he typed something into his computer, "Ah, yes! If you go straight northeast at top speed, you should get there in four to five months."

"Thanks, Newp. I'll see you in about nine or ten months, then. 'Course we'll keep in touch, though," Eva smiled, turning the communications device off and getting it out of the way.

Slert fastened her seatbelt, getting ready for a long ride. She didn't know what would happen or where she'd end up, but anything was better than rotting in Seven. She smiled, knowing things could only get better.

::End Chapter 1::

So, I'm going to kick off the start of Revenge Never Rests, the sequel to The Art of Revenge. Invader Zim is something I've been wanting to get back into lately, and since this one was unfinished and Blood Sport is coming up (which I'll be competing in), I wanted to get this out there.

I hope that if my opponents want to know Nyrhtak a little better they'll read parts of this (if not all) since he's one of the main characters and will be fighting a bit.

This will also be where all my (very) minor OCs will make their debuts, and most likely that's where I'll leave them unless I take up an interest and want to further thier stories later on.

Anyway, invader zim (c) JV, yadda yadda


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

It had been a long journey, but they were finally nearing their destination. They were nearly there after traveling for a month and three weeks, and Slert was just glad they'd soon be landing.

Zim and GIR had been driving the lot of them loopy nearly the entire time, and they were all just relieved to be getting rid of them.

Though Eva and Nyrhtak hadn't had much of anything to distract them from the randomness, Slert had been able to drown them out for the most part. For this she was glad; had she not had something to do, Zim would probably be dead and GIR would probably be disassembled right now.

She'd amused herself by looking into the files she'd stolen from Seven. Very quickly she'd discovered that they were all sound files. Using an invention she'd been able to keep with her, one of her first, she was able to listen to them in private.

Through the files labelled 'Zierra's Diary' she'd learned many things. Zierra had been one of the original PAKless and one of Katz's dearest friends. The therapist they'd all shared had turned out to be Ethys, her lover.

That was all interesting, but one topic in particular had caught her interest above all the others. It was the topic of these supernatural beings which she'd heard of.

Apparently the one Zierra had been ranting about was named Qoot. He was an irken, though he didn't look it in the least. She didn't learn much other than the fact that he had some sort of power, but it was still an interesting listen.

Attempting to take a break from the continuous listening and make some small talk Slert asked Eva, "How can you be so good at flying this thing? Your skills are pretty spectacular."

"Well, I… uhm…" Eva muttered, completely unsure of what to say. Slert then knew very well that the vortian girl was keeping something secret, but she didn't care about it all that much.

"You know what's crazy?" Slert asked, though before anyone could answer she continued, "This girl, Zierra. I stole her files randomly from Seven. Man, was she crazy in the head."

"How so?" Nyrhtak asked, desperately wanting something to distract him from Zim's ramblings and GIR's madness.

"Well I guess her therapist allowed her some paper and a pen or something. Pretty primitive, but a luxury in Seven nonetheless. Anyway, she would write her journal and the doctor would retrieve them from her and transfer them into a sound file with her voice. But man, did she write of some crazy things," Slert laughed.

"Like crazy murders, or crazy irkens, or general craziness?" Nyrhtak asked curiously, now actually interested in the story.

"No, not like that. Apparently there was a guy named Qoot a few cells down from her. She said he summoned demons or something, even when he was locked up. According to the files she even saw him do it a few times," she explained.

"An irken with the ability to summon demons… that's just crazy talk. I mean I saw a pretty messed up looking irken, but everyone just said he'd been experimented on in the past. Not sure if I caught his name… it might have been Qoot, I dunno," the other irken replied thoughtfully.

"Yeah, I know, eh?" What d'you think happened to that guy?" Slert wondered aloud.

"Oh, I saw him fall to the hands of about seven or so blood-thirsty cannibals. It looked like he was trying to do something odd, but I didn't stick around to see. If I'd stayed any longer they might've come after me too," he said.

Slert nodded, understanding completely. She'd have done the same thing if she'd been in his position. Now more than ever she was happy she'd been under the protection of the Royal Five and their gang.

Suddenly she heard a short gasp come from beside her, and she turned to look at Eva. She almost seemed panicked all of a sudden.

"Hey Eva, what d'you think of this whole thing?" Slert asked, noticing that the vortian girl had remained fairly silent.

Eva said nothing, instead just staring off into space. Tears formed in her eyes as she mumbled something to herself.

Slert left it at that, not wanting to sadden her further. She didn't know what had gotten into her all of a sudden, but she didn't want to make it worse.

Silently she retired herself to the audio files, wishing to hear the rest of Zierra's stories. They were a pleasant way to pass the time, especially compared to the alternative.

************

Slert's eyes flashed open in response to what she'd just heard on the files. She'd had no idea about this, and this new information shocked her. For a moment she just sat there, unable to believe what she was hearing.

Angrily she whipped around to face Zim, a furious look in her eyes. He was the one who'd ruined everything for the PAKless, he was the one who'd ruined her mother's life.

Leaping at him she growled fiercely, "YOU! How could you have done such an evil thing to all of them?"

He sunk back in his seat, Slert's sudden mood swing frightening him. He tried to speak but no sound came out.

Very soon Slert was on top of him, holding a razor sharp dagger she'd found discarded on the ground to his neck threateningly.

"Why the hell would you do something like that? You ruined their chances… and for that I'll kill you!" she hissed, pressing the dagger to his skin just enough to cause a small trickle of blood to appear.

The shorter irken cowered in his seat, apparently completely oblivious as to what he was being accused of doing. He managed to squeak, "What are you talking about? Zim did nothing!"

Slert froze for a moment in surprise, slightly taken aback. Did he really not know what his actions had caused all those years ago? It really didn't matter, Slert decided. He'd pay for what he'd done to Katz and the PAKless regardless of whether he knew what he'd done or not.

A crazy cry escaping her lips she drew her hand back. She wasn't going to kill him fast. Slitting his throat would be too quick for her taste; he'd have to die slowly.

Not only would it get rid of him, but she'd also be practicing her killing. Now that she'd escaped Seven she was a fugitive again, and would undoubtedly have to kill every so often in order to survive.

Seven had softened her more than she'd first thought, and she had to get back into the feel of torturing and killing her victims. She'd need to relearn those skills so she could go back to doing her experiments.

"Zim… you'll die here today. I swear it," Slert hissed, as she brought the knife down on his right arm. He screamed out in pain, looking at his attacker with a look of pure bewilderment in his eyes.

Slert screamed crazily, stabbing him over and over. Eva and Nyrhtak tried to stop her, but failed miserably. Soon Zim was lying there on the seat, full of holes and bleeding profusely. His blood stained the seats, but even after taking so much damage he was still alive. Barely.

She aimed her final attack, the one that would hopefully end his life, and brought the blade down. She'd intended to put it through his head, but something prevented that at the very last minute.

"My Master! I will save you!" GIR said loudly, its eyes suddenly red. Though it was a little late the robot realized its master was in trouble and had stepped into the path of the blade to spare him.

"GIR… th-thank you…" Zim managed to wheeze, a faint smile appearing on his face. For probably the first time he was forced to see that his robot slave could actually be of good to him in times of need.

"Master… I-I-I-I want t-t-tacos…" GIR muttered, its voice fading. Slert was mangling its machinery with her dagger and soon enough processors and wires were cut to completely shut the robot down.

Slert tossed the broken robot away and it landed in a tangled heap to the side of the ship. She was about to deal Zim the fatal blow when something again cut through her concentration.

"ENOUGH!" Nyrhtak screamed at the top of his lungs, bolting forward. His movements quick, he slapped the dagger from her hand and wrapped his other hand around her neck.

He lifted away from Zim, so much so that her feet no longer touched the seat. She struggled to break free, gasping for breath and clawing at his hands, but it was no use. He'd caught her off guard, and she couldn't get away.

"I don't know what the hell this guy did, but it doesn't matter! We're all refugees here, so save your killing skills for when you really need them. Now you'll leave Zim alone and mind your own, got it?" he growled menacingly, as Slert continued to gasp for air.

She nodded weakly, and he promptly dropped her to the floor. She lay there breathing heavily and rubbing where he'd grabbed her for a few moments, looking up at him nervously. Such a random change in behaviour; it truly scared her.

She scampered back to her seat and quieted down. Although she'd just very nearly been in danger of being strangled to death, however, her mind wasn't focused on death; she was thinking of the one who'd come close to killing her.

In the process of trying to kill Zim she'd discovered what Nyrhtak could do. When something NEEDED to be done or when he was pushed to the edge he could strike with brutal strength and swiftness. His skills were rough and unrefined at the current time, but she planned to work on that in time.

She hoped to make him her new sidekick. And once they trained him so he could fight and kill at any time, he would make a spectacular underling to be sure.

Immediately began scheming, planning on how to toughen him up. While she planned and schemed Nyrhtak, who knew minor first aid from his prisoner job in the medic ward of Seven, began to bandage Zim up.

He'd lost a fair amount of blood, but he'd survive if they got him to his home. Luckily they were nearly right atop the planet, and he was soon beamed down to his house with his damaged robot, and the four of them were finally alone in the spacecraft.

Eva turned to Slert, unsure of what to do. She asked nervously, "Slert… Nyrhtak… where are you heading? What're you going to do now that you're free?"

There was a short silence before Nyrhtak answered, "Well, I was thinking of joining the Resisty or maybe becoming a–"

"He's with me," Slert interrupted cockily, "He's to be my sidekick and I'll train him to be great. He did say he'd do anything if we let him aboard, did you not, Nyrhtak?"

"I… well yes, I suppose I did," he admitted, smiling and shrugging. He had indeed said that, though he hadn't expected to be taken up on it so soon. In the end he felt grateful, though; he really had nowhere to go.

"Great. But as for where we're going… that's really up to you. You're the one flying the ship. So long as it's not Seven, that is," Slert finished, looking at the vortian pilot.

"Well… I don't think they'd mind if I brought you along. They don't usually get visitors, you see. It shouldn't take too long to get there, either. It's only about a week and a half away from where we are," she replied happily, beginning the second part of their voyage.

::End Chapter 2::

So, chapter 2... yay!

So, secrets of Nyrhtak will emerge eventually, but know this: just like everyone else he can lose his temper XD

I wanted to include Zim somewhere in the fanfiction, and this seemed like a decent place. Way I understand it, in ~MizuCloud's unwritten fanfiction Zim and Katz live with each other and stuff, so it made sense to me that he'd want to find her once he knew of the jailbreak.

Anyway, things will get crazier as this thing goes on, and all the main characters will go through transormations of some sort. That's all I'll tell you for now


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

And so they were off to wherever it was Eva was taking them. Nyrhtak had long calmed down and since Zim had left things had been relatively quiet. Things were again back on track.

While Eva focused on getting them to their destination Slert continued to plot out various things, and while Slert plotted out various things Nyrhtak pondered what on Irk he'd gotten himself into.

They'd been traveling for a good few days when something struck Slert as odd. She'd just remembered something she'd heard on the audio files of Zierra's diary, and figured she'd bring it up.

"Eva, can I ask you something?" she asked, looking at the pilot suspiciously.

"Yeah, go right ahead. I don't see why not…" the vortian answered brightly, smiling widely.

"We appear to be in the Amos territory or the Geela Galaxy. We wouldn't be heading toward the remote planet of Zeena, are we?" Slert asked.

Eva's smile was swept right off her face. Looking to Slert with a glint of fear and rage in her eyes she snapped, "How do you know those coordinates?"

Slert, surprised to see her reaction be so sudden and drastic, replied simply, "Oh, I just heard them something before. It's nothing important, I was just wondering… probably nothing there anyway."

Her reaction completely gave away the answer, though; they were indeed heading toward a planet called Zeena. It was a planet that was in one of the lesser-known galaxies, one that seemingly everyone neglected.

It wasn't even on any of the intergalactic maps.

Ordinarily this would be of no significance, but what she'd heard in the audio files made this fact very important.

On the file Zierra had said that Qoot, the alleged demon summoner, had taken refuge on the very same planet they were traveling to. And according to that same file there were a few other supernatural beings residing there as well.

It made Slert wonder; exactly what were this secret-stowing vortian's intentions, and were these supernatural beings a myth or not?

At first she'd thought them to be a tall tale, but the more she listened to Zierra's audio diary, the more she was convinced otherwise. It was odd; she hadn't expected in the least to actually believe this stuff.

Yet here she was, half expecting one of these supernatural beings to pop out of nowhere. It was an odd feeling, to say the least.

For the remainder of the journey Slert stayed relatively quiet, contemplating the possibilities of this new development. Whether they really were creatures with odd powers or not, Eva was keeping something from them.

Almost before they knew it they were preparing to land. Sure enough, they were stopping at the planet Zeena.

It was a cold and dark planet, located at the very edge of the galaxy. Bearing no vegetation or viable water source, it definitely wasn't the most ideal place to settle down in. But they were here now.

"O-OK… we're here…" Eva smiled nervously, as she opened the hatch. One by one they piled out onto the dusty surface of the planet. Slert looked around and saw absolutely nothing of interest. She was about to say something, but Nyrhtak beat her to it.

"What exactly are we doing? I mean, there's nothing here," he said, looking to Eva curiously.

"Hold on, hold on. We only just got here… give me a chance to call them," the vortian muttered. She pushed a button on the watch and spoke into it, "Hey Yink, I'm finally here. I hope you all don't mind, but I've brought a few guests with me. Could we please come in?"

No answer came and for a moment it looked like her communications attempt hadn't worked. That thought was soon shattered, though, when the ground started shaking uncontrollably.

Suddenly the ground beneath their feet started to move. It wasn't a movement too extreme, but they steadily sank into the depths of the planet.

Soon they were standing in a holding chamber just big enough to hold Eva's ship and the four of them, located just under the surface of the planet. They all stepped off the platform while a few large mechanical claws stowed away the spaceship. Soon after the platform began to rise, sealing the hole in the planet's surface.

As Slert and Nyrhtak looked around the room curiously Eva entered a few codes into a nearby keypad. Whatever was held in the depths of this planet, it was very high security.

"Where are you leading us? This isn't some kind of trap, is it?" Slert asked softly, though she wasn't at all interested in the answer. It had been so long since she'd been in a secret lair of this calibre, and she was busy taking it all in.

"Not that I've planned… but now the others will react to you guys being here, I can't say for sure," Eva replied nervously. In bringing them here she hadn't quite thought things through.

A door to the left of them slid open revealing a fairly large room. Eva ushered them in and the guests were told to wait against the wall. They obeyed and the vortian walked around the corner to discuss their presence with one of her friends.

"What d'you think they're talking about?" Slert asked, as she gave Streerch a quick mechanical check. She hadn't done it since escaping Seven since she knew she wouldn't be able to repair it anyway, so she figured she'd do it now while they waited. At first glance everything appeared to be in order, but she'd do a deeper inspection at a later time just in case.

Before Nyrhtak could voice his speculations they heard voices from around the corner. Obviously, an argument was taking place.

"You did WHAT? You know how they all feel about this… how I feel about this!" a male's voice growled. By the sound of things he was a vortian, possibly from the northern reaches of Vort.

"They had nowhere to go…" Eva started, though she was soon cut off.

"The information Newp relayed to us said you were dropping your passengers off. Why are they here, Eva?" the male interrupted. They could hear him slam a fist on a hard surface, probably some sort of table.

"That was another one. These two had absolutely nowhere to go…" she defended. They could hear the stress in her voice.

"Please, Jay Vee, calm yourself. She did what she thought was right, and shouldn't be punished for that," a female said soothingly. Her accent didn't sound familiar to neither Slert nor Nyrhtak.

"NO! We've all experienced these people, and they never see things our way. Never…" the male vortian said, trailing off at the end. He soon recovered though and continued, "But the point is, outsiders can only do us harm! We have to get rid of them as soon as we can."

Slert and Nyrhtak had been so busy concentrating on eavesdropping they hadn't noticed a new arrival. They didn't notice the young irken's presence until Streerch spoke up, "My Master, we have company."

They all looked over to find a very small irken, probably just a smeet, standing there looking at them curiously. With a look of wonder and amazement in her eyes she suddenly ran toward them and hugged them.

"New friends! Xenata, we've got new friends!" the girl wailed happily. It was as if she'd never had a friend in her life.

At the sound of her voice everyone rushed to where they were huddled. Slert saw that she'd been right about this Jay Vee character, and the other was of a race she'd never encountered.

As well another vortian entered the scene, probably the one who the smeet had called over.

"No, they're not our new friends. They're scum, heartless and evil beings to the core," Jay Vee told her harshly. He wore a body suit of some sort, as well as a gas mask. Unlike many vortians he had no horns.

"Yink, please try to talk some sense into him…" Eva begged, turning to the being, which Slert had never come across before.

"I've been trying, Eva, but he just won't see reason," she answered. Yink had two horns coming out from each side of her head and wore very retro-looking clothing. Out of the lot of them, she seemed to be the most calm and serene.

"Hell yeah, I won't let this go so easily!" Jay Vee huffed. He seemed to have quite the temper on him.

While the three of them bickered back and forth, the one named Xenata approached the guests to retrieve the smeet.

"Tiv, attacking guests with hugs is not the proper way to introduce yourself," she said with a laugh, picking the smeet up. She then turned to Slert and Nyrhtak and held out her hand, saying politely, "Hi, my name's Xenata, necromancer extraordinaire.

Slert was about to ask what she meant when she said 'necromancer', but something distracted her before she could. In the nearby argument Jay Vee had lost his temper.

Suddenly the room was lit with a magnificent show of red and yellow flames, apparently originating from Jay Vee himself. Everyone shielded themselves against the heat of the blaze, and soon enough he'd calmed down enough for everything to go back to normal.

Xenata cut her introduction short to scold Jay Vee. Slapping him across the gas mask she told him firmly, "You know not to do that inside. You could've set the furniture on fire… or hurt one of us."

"Yes, I know, but…" he started.

"That doesn't matter. Just don't do it," she interrupted harshly.

"Please don't fight… I want to play with my new friends…" Tiv sniffed. It was clear that she was about to cry.

"They're not your friends, they have to leave," Jay Vee growled nastily, glaring at Slert and Nyrhtak.

Tiv, wanting the fighting to stop and for things to be peaceful again, jumped from Xenata's arms. Clumsily she ran back to Slert and Nyrhtak, again taking them in a hug. She said stubbornly, "They're my friends and they're not leaving. We're going to play games and have fun and be friends!"

Eva turned to Jay Vee and made one last attempt at winning him over, "See Jay Vee? She needs that companionship for once in her life. Please, just this once… let her actually be happy."

Growing sick of his comrades' constant whining Jay Vee finally gave in, "Fine, they can stay. But only for Tiv, and only this once… and they have to prove themselves useful in some way. If they even think about being freeloaders, they're out of here."

Slert looked around, her level of confusion growing. They were acting like the blaze that had broke out was a normal occurrence, natural even. She asked them nervously, "It's nice that you're giving us a place to live and all, but… what ARE you?"

::End Chapter 3::

Yay, the story progresses!  
They have a place to stay and everything now, but Slert and Nyrhtak are still very much confused. It shall be explained later


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The group of four looked toward Slert, having almost forgotten she was there in the midst of their argument. Eva, figuring she owed their two guests and explanation, stepped forward. She would be the one to come clean about her secrets.

"Slert, remember when you were talking of Qoot and the planet, how I got defensive and didn't tell you anything?" she asked, rubbing the back of her neck nervously, "Well that's because I… we have a secret."

"Yeah, I kinda figured that. No offence, but it was pretty obvious," Slert interjected, shrugging.

Eva continued, "No offence taken. Anyway, you know how you asked me how I was so good at flying the spacecraft? Well it's because I… I can control the wind around the ship, and wind in general. All of us can control something here."

"So then that guy, Qoot… Zierra wasn't lying? He could actually summon demons?" Nyrhtak gaped, hardly believing what he was hearing.

"Yes, he could. It's why he looked so weird. One of his summonings went wrong and a few demons embedded themselves in his body. He sustained the majority of control, though," Eva explained, "Now I suppose some introductions are in order."

She got everyone lined up in front of Slert and Streerch and Nyrhtak, and once they were ready the five of them began. Stepping forward Eva started them off.

"As you know, I'm Eva. I'm an austromancer, meaning I can control the wind around me," she told them. Her introduction was short, and she quickly looked to the one beside her to step up.

He did just that, though he wasn't happy about it. He told them coldly, "I'm Jay Vee, and I'm a pyromancer. That means I can control fire, hence why I always wear this suit. Now I don't like you, so don't get on my bad side… or else."

Slert nodded nervously as he stepped back into the line. For the time being at least, she wouldn't want to mess with him; he was quick to lose his temper, as she'd seen, and that combined with the ability to control fire was enough to convince her.

Next up was the being that they'd never seen before.

She stepped up, saying quietly and calmly, "They call me Yink. Originally I'm from the southern part of Teelak, making me a Teelakian. I generally like to stay away from the action, so I study chiromancy, or you might know it as palm reading."

"This here's Tiv. Both her parents were dririmancers, so she inherited the skill naturally. She doesn't quite know how to control it yet, but she's working on it. In case you don't know, since she's knows dririmancy she can control blood," Xenata introduced for the smeet.

"Blood?" Nyrhtak questioned suddenly.

"Yes, blood. And I'm Xenata the necromancer, meaning I can raise the dead," she smiled.

"This is all interesting and all, but it kind of seems too far fetched. Would there be any way to show us your powers so we can believe you?" Slert asked, the information not quite sinking in just yet.

"Sure. Just give me the name of someone who died. So long as their soul's intact, I should be able to get them here without trouble… possibly with their body as it was when they died too," Xenata offered kindly.

Nyrhtak was about to throw a name out there, but Slert beat him to it. She said quickly before he could even open his mouth, "Skippy! Please bring Skippy back if you can."

"OK, will do," the vortian girl agreed, as she began the process of bringing her back to the living world.

All was quiet as she concentrated on finding Skippy's soul, and Slert's eyes began to wander. She gave a small gasp of surprise as she noticed for the first time that where Xenata's eyes should have been, there were merely empty sockets.

Before they knew it something began to appear in front of them. It started slowly, but gained speed as it went. The particles in the air were gathering at her soul, creating her body.

Soon Skippy lay there in the flesh, though Slert found that she was less excited than she'd thought she'd be. The previously dead irken's body was totally mangled, and she couldn't even get off the ground.

In this state, there was no way she could be Slert's sidekick. She asked Xenata, "Is there any way to change her body? Any way to at least get her arms and leg back?"

"Unfortunately…no," the vortian answered sadly, "This is how she is now. But… either way her movements and thoughts are minimal. This process of bringing them back from the dead can sometimes have the side effect of… zombifying them. But don't worry, it's only temporary; I don't have enough skill yet for it to be permanent."

A sigh of relief escaped Slert's lips. She hated to see her friend in this condition, and was happy that she'd soon be dead again. Nonetheless she turned to Streerch to make sure it was recording this.

"Well, I'm convinced," Nyrhtak said in amazement, gazing at Skippy's struggling body, "But I just have one question: what d'you guys do all day?"

"Well… normal society doesn't exactly accept us…" Jay Vee huffed, "So most of us just stay here and improve our skills and stuff. But we need monies to support ourselves, so some of us manage to hide our skills from the population and get jobs."

"I'd be one of those," Eva said proudly, "I just got out of flying school, but there's a high demand for talented pilots. Already one of the big agencies has offered to hire me, and I immediately got my wings."

"And… what will there be for us to do?" Slert asked. She didn't want to sit around watching the others to their things; she had things of her own that had to get done.

"Well I believe in the spacecraft you said something about training Nyrhtak. And it seems like you're fairly interested in mechanics and experimenting, so if you don't mind working with one or two of us, there's a lab and a training ground down here too."

"Are you serious? You have a lab and training ground in this place? What else have you guys hidden here?" Nyrhtak gaped, barely believing it. The planet didn't look all that big from the outside, yet inside it held so many things.

"Of course! We have everything we need here to live and all sorts of comforts too. Many of us haven't left this place for decades, so the only way to not go insane is to have fun," Xenata said happily, looking to the floor.

As Skippy's weathered form withered away and her spirit returned to the land of the dead Slert thought to herself. This was starting to tickle her fancy more and more.

"Thank you all so much for your kindness," she said, looking to them all, "If not for you, we'd have nowhere to stay. But if it's all right with you, could Nyrhtak and I do a bit of exploring? We'll need to know our way around if we're to live here."

"Yes, of course. Go right ahead," Yink smiled, happy to see the irken so eager to get going.

"No! First we play!" Tiv yelled happily, lunging at the two of them.

"No, no, Tiv. Let them settle in a little bit first. After that you can play with them all you want," Xenata laughed, and Tiv stopped in her tracks. She turned around and pranced back to the eyeless vortian, a wide smile on her face.

So that was it. By a stroke of luck they'd landed a place to stay, which was more than they'd ever expected. Curiosity getting the better of them, they rushed to check out the wonders of the underground lair as the others went about their business.

"This should be fun…" Slert muttered to herself, looking forward to continuing her experiments and training Nyrhtak.

************

"Wow, this place is insane…" Nyrhtak muttered, as he poked his head into another room. This underground home had it all… and more.

"You can say that again… we've been walking for almost a good hour and we still haven't seen half of it all," Slert agreed, nodding, "What d'you say we give it a rest for a while and start your training?"

"Yeah, I guess we could do that. I think I saw the training ground a little way back," he agreed, turning around.

The two walked for a while longer, stopping by their room on the way. Streerch wouldn't be needed for the time being, so it would be there to process information and make a map of the facility. Soon they were back on their way.

After taking an elevator to the second floor and trying to find their way for a moment or two, they chanced upon the training chamber.

Walking into the room, their jaws dropped in awe. They'd seen that this place was magnificent, but to have such an insane training room… it blew their minds.

The room wad divided into four sections based on different environments: forest, desert, urban, and the fourth was a randomizer. Lining the walls of the hall that divided these four areas were various weapons and defensive measures; most all of them, including the ones meant to defend, looked quite deadly.

At the very back of the room they found a locker room of sorts. Each person that resided in the depths of the planet had a locker filled with things specifically for them. Slert and Nyrhtak each picked out a locker from the spares before checking out the rest of the training ground.

"OK, so…" Slert started, as she grabbed a small axe from its place on the wall, "We need to get to work. My mission in life is very dangerous, so if you're to be my sidekick we'll have to toughen you up."

"Toughen me up? H-how do you intend to do that?" he asked nervously, looking quickly between her eyes and the axe she held. He really didn't like where this was going.

"The best way to toughen one up is to put them in real danger. Now you'd best be choosing which location we go to, if you want any hope of dodging this," Slert said simply, as she readied the axe for throwing.

Needless to say, he ran away. He knew that he had to train a bit to be of assistance, but this was just too extreme. As he ducked into one of the four environments he heard Slert call to him, "You'll thank me for this in the end!"

Wanting to escape from the psycho he quickly looked around to find that he was in the middle of a forest. Thinking quickly he scrambled up the tree nearest him, hoping it would hide him from Slert.

Soon enough he heard footsteps and instantly knew that the crazy irken was coming for him. It figured; she'd just escaped from the most high-security irken prison in existence, so it was only logical that she'd be insane.

Suddenly everything went quiet and he could no longer predict where she stood. He shivered violently, his fear getting the best of him.

Slert looked around slyly, watching for any hints as to Nyrhtaks's whereabouts. Luckily she soon saw a few leaves fall from a nearby tree, giving away his position.

A little less than skilfully she threw the axe at the tree, watching as it spun dangerously through the air. Before long she heard a shrill girlish scream as Nyrhtak fell from the tree. He looked up at Slert with fear in his eyes.

"Come on, you're going to have to at least defend yourself. Otherwise you'll surely die when we go out into the world," Slert told him calmly, as she whipped out a dagger. Raising it high she advanced on him, a cold look in here eyes.

::End Chapter 4::

Well, it looks like Slert's gears are already grinding away. She isn't going to settle for a weakling, she wants someone she can at least rely on in battle... and this is the perfect place to do that! The question is: does Nyrhtak have what it takes? Doesn't look like he's all that good at fighting, and if he doesn't do something quick he's going to be in some deep trouble... but on the other hand, would Slert be willing to kill a potential partner? You'll have to wait and see, I suppose!


End file.
